LGBT Anti Bullying Week Assembly 2017

Labels

Labels daughter son uncle brother sister aunt grandchild nephew niece Daughter, son, nephew etc… How does it feel to have labels like these? Do they provide you with a feeling of belonging? You could ask: What other labels do you have?

Labels Scottish Asian Black Chinese Polish Sikh Jewish English Atheist Christian Catholic Again these may provide you with a feeling of belonging. However, as you know, labels can also be used as terms of abuse by people. Sometimes they are used to highlight that a person doesn’t belong and is an ‘outsider’. At other times, these labels are used to suggest that a group someone belongs to is bad or undesirable. As in all societies, there is still racism in Scotland today. Talk about the work your school has done to combat racism, or, if you haven’t done any race-related topic work recently, talk generally about intolerance and racism and how Scottish schools work to try and eradicate racism.

funny sad caring sporty Labels bright clever happy geek cheeky kind bully funny sad caring sporty Other labels may relate to your personality, skills or ability. These may be positive, but again they can sometimes be used to insult people. Often these labels are used by people to try and upset others.

Labels straight gay lesbian bisexual transgender And what about these terms? You could ask if your children know what any of them mean. If you’d prefer though, we’ve found these descriptions work really well so you could say: “Straight – someone who falls in love with someone of the different gender – so a man would fall in love with a woman, or a woman fall in love with a man. Gay – a man who falls in love with another man Lesbian – a woman who falls in love with another woman Bisexual – a person who can fall in love with either a man or a woman Transgender – Some people do not feel their bodies fit their gender i.e. boys sometimes feel they should have been born girls and girls feel they should have been born as boys. Some times they feel like neither and sometimes they feel like both. People who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender are part of a community of people known as the LGBT community.”

LGBT community There are LGBT people in every community in Scotland. They can be in any school, any family and any group. The official statistics on the number of LGBT people in Scotland vary widely. Discrepancies occur because a number of LGBT people do not feel comfortable disclosing information about their personal identities and family lives. There may be many reasons for this, including the fear that this information may be used to label LGBT individuals as bad. We can say, with certainty, that there are LGBT people in every area of Scotland.

Famous LGBT people Some LGBT people are well known members of society. For Example: Ellen DeGeneres– Talk show host. Alan Turing – Inventor who made modern computers possible. He also was part of the team that broke the Enigma Code which helped bring WW2 to an end. Jackie Kay – Poet and Scots Makar– Scotland’s official poet! Tom Daley – Olympic medal-winning diver Some famous LGBT people your pupils may have heard of… You could ask if they know any more famous LGBT people?

National Anti-Bullying Week Every year, around mid November, we mark National Anti-Bullying Week to make sure everyone knows we are committed to challenging all bullying.

National Anti-Bullying Week Sadly, some people think it’s OK to insult, harass, discriminate against or bully LGBT people, or people who have LGBT family members. This is completely unacceptable and will not be tolerated. You could ask, at this point what percentage of LGBT in Scotland experience bullying. Take answers from the audience if you wish, then let them know the figures: 69% of lesbian, gay or bisexual young people 77% of transgender young people Reiterate that, in your school, everyone has the right to experience an education free from discrimination and bullying, including those who are LGBT.

LGBT language But what can we do in school? “That’s so sporty!” “That’s so Scottish!” Imagine using those phrases as insults… It is unfortunate, but in many primary schools, some people will use the word ‘gay’ as an insult. At this point you could ask: Have you ever heard ‘gay’ being used as an insult? You could even ask if they’ve heard it used in your school. At this point you can explain that for people who identify as LGBT, hearing that is very hurtful. Link it back to the labels young people had identified with… Talk to a teacher in advance and ask if it’s OK to use their name to highlight how it might feel to be the focus of an insult. “Imagine Mrs Smith’s name was used as an insult. Every time people didn’t like something she’d hear ‘Urgh, that’s so Mrs Smith.’ Or people being told ‘Don’t be so Mrs Smith!’ It sounds silly doesn’t’ it? But how do you think Mrs Smith might feel?” How would you feel if it was you? Schools can focus on ensuring that ‘gay’ isn’t used as an insult in school. Ask the children to help. Make sure the children know using the term is unacceptable and agree a consequence for if it is used as an insult in school.

Silence helps homophobia SHH! Silence helps homophobia This is an excellent film to show to highlight that it’s everyone’s responsibility to tackle homophobia and homophobic language. This can be unpacked further in using the resources available here: https://www.lgbtyouth.org.uk/pro-resources-historymonth (at the bottom of the page)

respectme.org.uk RespectMe is Scotland’s Anti-Bullying service and information and advice can also be found there about options available to you if you experience bullying. Bullying – What can I do? A film from respectme about the options open to young people experiencing bullying.

If you want further information you can visit… We’d like to think that everyone in our school is safe and happy to be here. Also, we hope that you all know that if you have any problems or issues around homophobic, biphopic or transphobic bullying we’re here to help. If you want further information you can visit…

lgbtyouth.org.uk